New trial ordered for Kevin Goforth, Tammy Goforth’s appeal dismissed

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of manslaughter in connection with the death of a four-year-old girl in the care of his family.

In a 2-1 decision, the province’s top court allowed the appeal of Kevin Goforth on the grounds the trial judge had made mistakes in her instructions to the jury.

However, the court dismissed the appeal of Tammy Goforth — Kevin’s wife. She was convicted of second-degree murder when the couple was tried in 2016.

Both also were convicted of causing bodily harm to the girl’s younger sister. The children were in the couple’s foster care.

The four-year-old died in August of 2012 after being rushed to hospital; she died after being taken off life support.

According to the trial judge, the girl and her sister hadn’t been fed properly for three to four weeks and the Goforths didn’t seek medical attention for the girls.

After their trial, Kevin Goforth was sentenced to 15 years in prison, minus time served. Tammy Goforth was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 17 years.

The couple’s appeals were heard in 2019 and the court’s 96-page decision was released Tuesday.

In it, justices Robert Leurer and Brian Barrington-Foote laid out errors they believed the trial judge had made in her charge to the jury regarding Kevin Goforth. The justices said those errors may have “misled the jury.”

“It cannot be said that the outcome of the trial on the charges against Mr. Goforth would necessarily have been the same if these errors had not occurred,” the justices wrote. “The Crown did not contend otherwise. In these circumstances, a new trial on the charges against Mr. Goforth is required.”

Tammy Goforth’s appeal in part was based on the grounds her verdict was inconsistent with that of her husband. Justice Neal Caldwell didn’t agree, saying she was identified as the girls’ primary caregiver.

“The different verdicts for Mr. Goforth and Ms. Goforth on the charge of murder are not inconsistent and are supported by the evidence,” Caldwell wrote in a decision on which the other two justices agreed.

“The verdicts may be reconciled on the basis of the nature and strength of the evidence as against each of the Goforths with respect to their knowledge of the circumstances of the older child’s death. The trial judge adequately instructed the jury as to the (criminal intent) requirements of murder.”